Sunday, June 08, 2014

Brazil’s child
sex workers forced to cash in on World Cup

BRAZILIAN kids
as young as 10 are being forced to sell themselves for sex on the streets to
cash in on the hundreds of thousands of soccer fans heading to the World Cup, a
shocking investigation has revealed.

Sex trade ... with thousands of foreign tourists descending on Brazil this week, there are grave fears for the nation’s child prostiutes.

Young girls and boys high after
sniffing glue openly sell themselves for sex on street corners in the city of
Recife — which will host five matches — for as little as $4, the investigative
report claims.

The problem is not just confined to
Recife — child prostitution is endemic across the entire country.

To the north of Recife lies the
beach resort city of Fortaleza, host to six World Cup matches and widely
considered to a hotspot for child sex tourism

One factor that has allowed child
prostitution to flourish in Brazil under the noses of police officers is that
the country’s age of consent is 14.

Also, in 2012 a Brazilian court
ruled that sex with a 12-year-old did not necessarily constitute statutory rape
— a decision that Amnesty International blasted as “a green light for rapists.”

No future ... child prositution is rampant in Brazil, a problem many attribute to the lower age of consent. Source: Supplied

With 600,000 foreign soccer fans
preparing to descend on the World Cup host nation this week, and 3 million
Brazilian fans travelling around the country, there are grave fears the
children’s plight will only get worse.

One child told the Sunday People how
she regularly gets approached by dozens of men looking for sex — locals,
tourists and taxi ­drivers.

Lorrisa, 13, said she sniffed
strong industrial glue, which the locals kids call “cola”, to stave off hunger
pangs.

“Sniffing the glue makes me feel
dizzy and numb and it stops me feeling hungry so I don’t need to eat,” Lorrisa
said.

“It helps me cope with the ­violence
and danger on the streets.”

Life is cheap ... violence and drugs reign supreme on the streets of Recife. Here, a police officer detains alleged looters. Source: AP

An older woman who has lived on the
streets since the age of seven said the children of Recife are at risk from
local men and tourists.

She pointed out one boy aged 10 who
had been forced into prostitution.

She said: “The children go with the
men because they are high on drugs or need more money to buy drugs.

“They use drugs to numb the pain of
the sexual abuse, become addicted then need to sell themselves over and over
again to raise the money.”

Critics of Brazil’s Goverment say
officials have pushed the child sex trade out of sight, but haven’t done enough
to eradicate its root causes. They warn underage prostitution could explode
during the World Cup.

“These girls come from extreme
poverty, a culture of social exclusion and a tradition of profound disrespect
for women,” Antonia Lima Sousa, a state prosecutor, told CNN.

The scourge of child prostitution
“involves a whole tourism network, from agencies to hotels to taxis,” she says.
“With these mega events, sexual exploitation is also going to be organised much
more via the internet.”

At risk ... with the World Cup coming there are fears human traffickers will target children. Source: Supplied

Despite promises to eradicate child
prostitution, the number of estimated child sex workers in Brazil stands at
about half a million, according to the non-profit National Forum for the
Prevention of Child Labour.

Last month, a global network of
religious orders against human trafficking launched a campaign against child
prostitution during the World Cup.

“In Brazil, our greatest concern is
linked to the increase in the exploitation of child prostitution,” said Sister
Gabriella Bottani, an Italian nun who is an organiser of the coalition
involving 240 religious congregations from 79 countries.

She said international sporting
events attract human traffickers, who trick jobseekers into slave labour and
also kidnap children for illegal adoptions or forced begging.